RWBY: Limbo
by Zev610
Summary: The white fangs use of an Atlesian weapon against Vale citizens has left Atlas in a precarious position. Struggling to provide answers Atlas and the companies involved in the construction of the Paladin launch a hasty investigation. One group of private contractors hired by the multikingdom conglomerate, Trilohim, find themselves in the heart of Vale, attempting to uncover answers.
1. Prologue

"The Atlesian military has denied any involvement in last week's terrorist attack In Vale involving Atlas latest's super weapon, the Atlesian Paladin." Lisa Lavender began her report as images of the aftermath of the carnage played. "Atlas officials were unable to determine how the white fang terrorist organization was able to obtain the Atlesian Paladin, but have assured they are investigating the incident." A sudden camera change alloted a quick pause, allowing Lisa to seamlessly slide into a new angle of the story. "Live via CCT, We have Elija Elom, chairman of the multikingdom conglomerate Trilohim. Mr. Elom, your company is the one responsible for the construction of the Atlesian Paladin, correct?" multinational conglomerate

"Alongside Atlas and the Schnee Dust Company, but yes we handled much of the R&D and construction." Elija was younger than one would expect of a chairman, his overall appearance and deport seemed more like that of a celebrated idol. One could simply credit it too well paid hair dressers and makeup artists, but the charming smile and air of confidence was impossible to fake.

"The Atlesian military claims that none of their Atlesian Paladins are missing. Some have claimed that Trilohim sold the white fang the Arlesian Paladin."

"Yes, we are aware of those baseless claims. However, we cannot ignore them or stand by complacent. That is why we at Trilohim have begun an investigation with Vale and Atlas authorities. We have assisted in the recovery of the Paladin wreckage in hopes of finding clues to where the fault in security was. Unfortunately, it was too badly damaged to determine if it was one of Atlas or one of our own."

"Surely there must be records to indicate missing stock of such weapons."

"Yes, of course there is. But that is where the trouble is. Nether Atlas or our own records show a missing unit."

"That is impossible, are you suggesting that the white fang built their own?"

"Of course not, the amount of R &D and resources needed to build a Paladin is staggering. No, we believe there has been a breach in security and records altered." Somewhere in Atlas the sounds of top brass cursing in unison could be heard.

"Are you saying that there was a breach in the Atlesian military?"

"No, it's more likely the fault was within Trilohim." And with that a sigh fell across Atlas. "We employ a great number of Faunus workers. Though we do background checks on those working in sensitive areas not all checks are perfect."

"So Trilohim is taking responsibility for allowing military hardware to fall into the hands of a terrorist organization?"

"No, we are still investigating the incident. We have sent our own private investigators to Vale to find the truth behind the matter."

* * *

><p>An unseasonable chill blew through the night streets of Vale. Avoiding the chill, many of the people of Vale had opted to stay in with family and friends. The fear of the recent terrorist attack, still fresh in everyone's mind, played no small part in the empty streets. There was no warning or even a build up to it, the white fang simply stole a military grade machine and ran it through the streets. The number of injured and killed was higher than anyone expected. The old fears and hatred of Faunus was starting to rear its ugly head once more in Vale. Some would say such feelings and thoughts were always there, but now many people were willing to act on them. What was the point of playing nice and treating Faunus like equals when the white fang will just randomly kill you in the street, was the thinking of many. Not only was getting to the bottom of the theft important for saving face, but also averting a full scale riot. Scenarios that weighed heavily on the private investigators sent to untangle the knot that was the mystery of the stolen Paladin.<p>

"You see anything, Max?" Sean Denton inquired as he pulled the collar of his overcoat to better hide his face. He sat waiting at the corner of a building, watching as Faunus slowly trickled in to an alleyway a block ahead of him.

"Looks like they are entering an old warehouse." A female voice came back over the ear piece in Sean's ear.

"Asher, how close are you?"

"Close, but if I get any closer I think it will spook them. They can spot humans out pretty easily." A mans voice came in response.

"Ches, are you in? . . . Ches?"

"I'm in the building, but I'm holding back, I got a mole doing the mingling." You could almost hear the cheeky grin coming off Ches' voice as he spoke.

"You have a mole on the inside . . . What do you me- . . . You son of a bitch, you didn't!?" Sean replied as his eyes grew wide.

* * *

><p>Within the warehouse on the edge of Vale's industrial district a small group of white fang members had begun to conjugate. It was the first real meeting of white fang members since Roman had made his alluring offer and then ran ramped in downtown Vale. The crowd was mostly made up of disgruntled white fangs who were still unsure of Roman and his employer. The mood in the room was tense with arguments breaking out one after the other. The more time that past the clearer it became that this was not an official white fang gathering. No one was taking the reins and controlling the headless beast the whole gathering was turning into. That was until a wolf Faunus took an elevated position on top of a few empty crates. Half the crowd already turned their attention to him before he even opened his mouth, a good start he thought.<p>

"Everyone, calm down, we need to discuss this rationally!" He howled above the crowd.

"What is there to discuss!?" A female voice rose up from the crowd.

"That's right! That carrot top is just like all the other humans! They just want to take advantage of us, just like the Schnee dust company!" A horned Faunus at the head of the group replied as he stepped forward. His words roused a good portion of the crowd in agreement.

"He is offering us a means to fight back in a meaningful way!" another Faunus answered before stepping to confront the opposition.

"We have been doing just fine without that humans help." he retorted before stepping towards the Faunus that challenged his position.

"What? Attacking dust shipments? They barely notice those. We're seen as just annoyances to them. Only an idiot would think we were making a difference with our current actions."

As the two points crossed arguments broke out worse than before. Bodies were shoved, insults were tossed and fists were thrown as a young teenage boy, with a loose fitting white fang mask, was nearly knocked off his feet by the crowd. The would be mediator let an ear piercing whistle loose, causing the Faunus with large ears to flinch painfully. The arguments came to a halt, but it was obvious that they could start back up at any moment.

"We are achieving nothing with all this bickering. I realize this is a sensitive topic, but we came here to weigh our options!" The crowd seemed to settle as the wolf Faunus words fell over them. "It is true that Roman is offering us a way to fight back in a more potent manner. . .however, we have to be cautious. We have been burned before by promises made by humans!" Order was all but restored to the group of Faunus until an empty bottle caught the voice of rationality in the temple.

"Things are getting pretty hectic in here." The boy spoke into a mic hidden in his collar. Sean nearly choked on his own surprise when he heard the teen's voice over the net, his worst fears were realized. Surprise was soon forgotten to boiling rage as Sean covered his mic to muffle his cursing.

"Evan, What the hell are you even doing in there!?" Sean shouted in to his mic as he regained his composure. Evan flinched violently as the voice rattled against his ear drum, the discomfort of the others on the net could be heard in muddled complaints.

"You needed someone to get in, I could get in." Evan defended, ignoring the chaos that was growing around him.

"Guys, we should save this for later." Ches interrupted. "They are getting pretty feisty down there." It was only then when Evan realized the situation around him had exploded into a full blown brawl.

"What's going on in there?" Sean inquired as he turned his attention back towards the alleyway. He couldn't see anything, but the sounds coming from the alleyway were growing increasingly alarming.

"Looks like the debate has broken down. I have seen bar brawls more orderly then this. . .These guys would fit in perfectly in Vacuo politics."

"Get him the hell out of there, Ches!" Sean ordered as he rushed towards the alleyway.

"Already on it!"

Reason and rationality had been lost to all the white fang members. It didn't matter what position you backed, fists and claws were being thrown in every direction. The best Evan could do was avoid the bodies being tossed about. So fixated on avoiding the conflict taking place all around him he didn't even notice the large Faunus he backed into. He froze as his back connected with what felt like a wall, a wall he knew could not be there, a wall that was beginning to move. Turning to confront the obstacle he saw his life flash before his eyes as the monster of a Faunus drew his fist back.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen!" A disembodied voice declared before the large Faunus was thrown from his feet. "Hurry and run, I'll clear a way for you!" The voice came again before another Faunus was tossed aside by an invisible force. Not disturbed by the ghostly assistance in the slightest Evan sprinted down the path being made for him. Bursting through the doors of the warehouse Evan was quickly collected by Sean, who took the teen by the collar.

"Not so rough!" Evan complained as he was dragged from the alleyway and into a waiting black van with tinted windows. As the back doors were closed the passenger door flung open and closed on its own accord before a violet haired man suddenly manifested like an apparition in the passenger seat.

"Asher, drive!" Sean shouted to the driver, who did what he was directed to in a hasty manner. "Max, do we have anyone following us?"

"No, they are still busy beating the crap out of each other." Max replied as she watched the fight start to spill out onto the street through her rifle scope. "Do we really think these fools have something to do with the theft?"

"It has to be them; their symbol was stenciled all over the wreckage of the Paladin." Sean replied before taking a seat across from Evan.

"It's not, them!" Evan announced unable to hold his tongue as the conversation came through on his own ear piece. "Someone named Roman, Roman Torchwick stole the Paladin."

"Oh, the little guy got some intel, did he?" Max replied as she moved her rifle from the edge of the rooftop. The gathering of white fang members was starting to disperse into the night, leaving no reason for Maxine to continue to observe.

"There is some other party involved in all this. They are the ones providing the white fang with hardware."

"Why would they be funding the white fang?" Asher asked as he pulled the van onto the freeway.

"I don't know, but most of the white fang there thought it was simply to manipulate them."

"I knew sending the little guy was a good idea." Ches stated, causing a few glaring eyes to fall upon him.

"What were you even thinking, Ches?" Sean demanded.

"Whoa, calm down there. Evan wanted to pull his own weight." Ches defended as he turned to confront Sean's anger filled words. He was unsure if the blonde haired man was going to start throwing punches. Ches had rarely saw him this angry, the last time he saw him in this kind of mood he had been shot.

"That's not the issue here. We already discussed this and I shot it down. You disobeyed a direct order."

"You need to stop protecting him sometime. We weren't much older than him when we started doing stuff like this."

"You know damn well, it's not the same! He has a condi-"

"I'm right here! You know that, right!?" Evan shouted as he pulled the white fang mask off, displaying a pair of stunted curved horns protruding from his head. "This isn't the thing we should be talking about right now anyways!"

"The kids got a point." Ches replied as he crossed his arms and reclined into his seat. "We need to find this Torchwood guy."

"Torchwick." Evan corrected before fixing his hair to better conceal his horns.

"I'll check to see if there are any police files on him when we get back to the hide." Asher volunteered.

"At least now we have a better lead than just the white fang . . . Good work." Sean praised as he patted Evan on the shoulder. "But, were not done talking about this." He informed Evan as he drew the teen closer.

"Hate to butt in on this . . . But am I walking?" Max inquired as she stood in solitude upon the rooftop.


	2. Potential Allies

The cimmerian streets branched out in front of Evan as he made his way through the city. The sun had gone down long ago making it peculiar that the street lamps had not roused to life to chase the darkness away. The darkness was so complete that Evan was left wondering if the sun even existed in this place. The interior of buildings were just as black, even though he could swear he saw figures moving in the darkness behind each window frame. Unnerved by his surroundings he continued to press deeper into the city. The city was unfamiliar to him, but he couldn't help feel he had been there before. As he came across an imposingly large building a feeling of familiarity washed over him, forcing him to stop. As he grew closer a sudden realization struck him, the rest of the buildings of the city had begun to meld into their caliginous surroundings. The figures that he once swore he saw behind every window were now standing in the open, amidst the consuming darkness. It was only at that moment that he realized they were all shades, just as black as the darkness threatening to consume him. The only thing that allowed him to make out their shape was their crimson glowing eyes. As fear sank its fangs into the boy he suddenly forgot, or simply dismissed, the building he was drawn to. The steadily growing number of shades blocking his return path forced Evan to flee further into the city. In his panicked flight he barely noticed when the rest of the buildings vanished into the darkness, leaving him running in pitch blackness. He only managed another few yards when the last building vanished and he felt himself begin to fall.

He couldn't be sure just how long he fell for, time and space seemed to have little meaning in the new world he found himself. He couldn't even be sure if he even existed, he couldn't even see his own hand in front of his face anymore. Such existential thoughts were cut short as he struck what he could only assume was a body of water. Instinctively breached the surface of the pool and took a deep breath. It wasn't water he could tell that, it was too thick and it was sticking to him like oil. The thought of crying out for help crossed his mind; he may have done just that, until a myriad of hands reached out and took hold of him. Fighting back was impossible as he found himself being dragged under. As his will to fight began to leave him a sudden light broke the darkness like a new born star. It may have just been that, a small star in the darkness, but the darkness was so thick and consuming that even the light from a star was blinding. Reaching for the source of the light Evan was surprised to find a hand taking his. It wasn't like the hands dragging him to the depths of darkness, it was small and slender, the hand of a girl. He was almost disheartened until the hand took hold and dragged him up with immense strength. His eyes still stunned by the light, Evan could only make out a cloak his savior wore and an impressive scythe they wielded. Had the grim reaper just saved him?

* * *

><p>"Same nightmare?" Sean asked as he woke Evan from his restless slumber. Evan rose quickly from his slumped position into that of a seated one. He had fallen asleep at his work bench in the back room of the garage. Parts of machines and half built weapons littered the bench and half the room, he was lucky he had not stabbed himself when he passed out. Projects he had started but never felt motivated enough to finish lay scattered across the room. Most were of laughable design and function, but gems lay hidden among the trash. There were a few finished weapons, or close to being finished, hung on the walls on display for all to see. Those that stood out on the wall were sharpened to a razor point and oiled to perfection.<p>

"Yeah . . . I think so." Evan replied as he attempted to crack a kink out of his neck. The dream was fading fast from his memory, all he knew for sure is that he wasn't as shaken or as fearful as he normally was. Maybe he was just getting use to them now, was the best he could come up with as the last foggy memory of the dream faded into oblivion.

"We need to talk about yesterday." Sean informed the still sleepy boy as he brushed an arm full of junk off a chair.

"Do we really have to? Didn't we get some good information and no one got hurt. It was a job well done." Evan clearly wanted to dodge the whole conversation. He quickly rose from his chair and began to gather parts to finish what he was working on last night before sleep took him.

"Evan. . .Sit." The boy sighed loudly before dropping the arm full of parts on the floor. The sound of crashing metal filled the back room as each part struck the ground; surprisingly the boy's feet were spared any harm from the reckless action.

"I already know what you are going to say." Evan told the older man as he slumped back into his chair. "You can't do those kinds of things, you have a condition." He was clearly repeating words that he had been told many times before, but his impersonation was less than flattering.

"You are a smart kid, I shouldn't have to keep telling you this, you know the dangers." Sean didn't have much hope of convincing Evan. This wasn't the first time they had this conversation, however he couldn't let the boy's actions go unhindered.

"Weren't you the one that told me it doesn't matter? As long as I try hard I can do whatever I want?" Evan and Sean both knew those words were only meant for a struggling youth and didn't hold much meaning in this time and place. Silence fell over the back room as Sean found himself unable to answer. He wasn't going to tell Evan the same after school special bullshit anymore. He was old enough to know that people had limits and everyone wasn't created equal.

"Asher did some digging on that Torchwich guy." But he wasn't going to get into that argument with Evan, not at this time. Sean wasn't going to spit in the boy's face and tell him he was a helpless child that needed a babysitter. Though he hated to admit it he had done good last night, he would never admit that to him. Last thing he needed was the kid getting all cocksure and going off on some reckless attempt to solve the case on his own.

"And what did he find out?" Evan was almost giddy that Sean changed the subject and was talking about the lead he had discovered.

"Well the guy has a rap sheet about the length of my arm. But he seems to just be a common low life, nothing too impressive; it seems like a dead end. I can't see him being able to pull off the theft of the Paladin." Evan grit his teeth and held back a curse before rising back to his feet, casing Sean some alarm.

"We should still check it out; he may just be a piece of a larger entity." Evan couldn't help but feel like Sean was attacking his credibility by trying to dismiss the Torchwick lead.

"You may be right, but we haven't turned up any leads on where he is located. If we knew where to find him we would pick him up." Sean rose from his own seat, his stature looming over the teenager. "But you are not involved in this anymore. You just sit tight here and behave yourself. . .and stay away from Ches." Sean directed before leaving Evan's work room. Waiting for the sound of Sean's foot steps to grow distant, Evan swiftly made his way over to a mess of computer consoles. Removing a sheet from over the severed head of an antiquated Atlesian Knight, Evan proceeded to connect it to a power source. Sparks bounded from the makeshift outlet Evan had made to the head before its visor lit up.

""Oh . . . hello do you need my services again?" The head greeted, its voice and demeanor having been clearly altered by Evan. No longer was it menacing and intimidating, it sounded more like a complacent servant.

"That's right, Dull-1." Evan answered as he continued working on adding more cables to the heads outlets. "I need you to run a little search for me."

"Splendid, I always do enjoy being connected to a network. What will the parameters of the search be?" Dull-1 inquired before Evan finished connecting the disembodied head to the CCT network. "Oh we are currently located in Vale city? my I must have been powered off for some time."

"You get a little annoying." Evan interjected before muting Dull-1's voice. "You will be searching for a man, his name is Roman Torchwick. I want everything you can find on him. Driver's license, location, even who his damn dentist is." A moment of silence passed before Evan remembered to unmute the machines voice.

"Oh dear, that could be a problem with this connection. It would take a number of months to perform such a search from here." The droids visor flashed rapidly as it quickly ran through alternatives. "You are in luck, there is a Cross Continental Transmit tower located right here in Vale. But you would need access to one of the administrator's terminals to expedite the search, but they are not open to the public." Evan paced the room as he contemplated Dull-1's words. If the admin terminals weren't open to the public's use, then who would be able to access them? The thought ran back and forth in his head, he dissected every idea and plan of action until he realized he was over thinking the problem.

"I'll need you to edit a few things on my scroll." Evan directed Dull-1 as a sly smirk crept across his lips.

"Hey, where are you heading, Kiddo?" Max inquired as Evan stepped from the back room with a shoulder slung knapsack. Evan nearly jumped out of his skin as Max greeted him. His surprise was soon forgotten as a blush spread across the teenagers face. She appeared to have just woken by the look of her and what she wore, or lack thereof. An olive green A-shirt and pair of cut offs, she had not even bothered to button up, were all that hid her shame from the rest of the world. Her body was that of a career soldier, toned and sculpted to perfection. It was one of the many things that drove Evan's affection for her, even if she was his senior by nearly a decade.

"I...I. . . I'm j j just heading out to gather some more parts!" Evan squawked as he attempted to avert his gaze.

""Oh, well can you pick up some-" Maxine began before Evan swiftly sprinted from the building, the slamming of the front door signaling his departure. "Milk . . . What was that about?" She muttered as she ruffled her russet brown hair. Sitting in the makeshift TV room, Asher rolled his eyes at the confused woman. Max knew exactly what the problem was; she enjoyed tormenting the boy and being able to influence him to her will.

"You should really grow the hell up." Feigning ignorance, Max ignored the older man's words as she splayed herself out on the TV rooms couch.

* * *

><p>It didn't take long for Evan to locate the CCT, it was visible from just about anywheres in Vale. "The one in Atlas is bigger." He said dismissively of the impressive structure before moving towards its base. Evan slid a cap over the crown of his head as he grew increasingly intentive of the cameras circling the tower. The CCT was of immense value and was fiercely monitored and guarded at all times. As he pushed past a few beacon students and into the main hall of the CCT, he suddenly started to have second thoughts. What he was planning on doing was remarkably stupid; if he got caught he would be lucky if they just threw him in jail. They may attempt to say he was a terrorist or part of the white fang, forget that, there was no way they wouldn't associate him with the white fang. Gripping his knapsack tightly he began to turn back to the door before he felt an arm drape over his shoulders.<p>

"Not planning on chickening out, are you?" Ches asked as he leaned over to peer into the teens green eyes.

"What are you doing here!?" Evan demanded as he leapt away from the violet haired man.

"I overheard your plans with your little robot buddy." Ches clarified as he gestured towards the boys knapsack. Dread was the best word to describe what Evan was feeling at that moment. Sean was going to beat him senseless, if he was lucky. Ches grinned to himself as he noticed the look of horror spread across the youngsters face.

"Don't worry, Sean doesn't know." Ches Took a quick look around the room, as if he was making sure Sean or anyone of the others were not around. "I think you are on to something with this Torchwood guy." Evan didn't even bother to correct him as he glared with doubtful eyes. "Hey, I think they are barking up the wrong tree with those idiot Faunus, myself. We found this lead together I think it's only fair we track it down together."

Stepping into the elevator, Evan fumbled with his scroll as he nervously waited until a feminine voice greeted him. "Hello, welcome to the CCT, how may I help you?" Evan swallowed hard as he attempted to gain the courage to speak. "Hello?" The voice repeated causing Evan to hesitate farther.

"Y. . . Yes, I'm with maintenance, there has been a report of a problem with one of the administrative terminals on the upper floor." Evan finely answered as the voice was about to repeat its greeting once more.

"Oh . . . could you please hold your scroll up to the terminal to verify your credentials?" Evan did as he was instructed, hoping that dull-1's forgery was up to snuff. "That's odd." Evan nearly choked on his dread as he heard the confused reply. "There has been no work order issued." He almost let out a sigh of relief as his ploy appeared to be working.

"Yeah, it doesn't surprise me. They didn't even give me the number of the terminal. I'm going to have to check each one until I find the fault; I'm going to be here all day." The more Evan dove into his deceit the more comfortable he came with the whole situation.

"That is a problem . . . I'll need to check with-" A loud sigh from Evan cut the voice off mid-stream causing silence to fall from the speaker.

"That's just going to take even more time; I really want to get out of here before sunset. Could you just do me this one favor and just clear me. I really want to get started as soon as possible." A long moment of silence followed, causing the young con artist a moment of great concern. A sudden jolt from the elevator and Evan felt himself begin to move upwards. "Thanks a lot i really owe you one." He said with honest gratitude.

"Smooth." Ches' disembodied voice commended before the invisible man caught an elbow in the gut.

As the lift arrived on the upper most floor of the CCT Ches was still struggling to catch his breath. As the doors slid open the invisible man rushed past Evan, away from the prying eye of the elevator lady, and quickly let his Semblance fade. Evan quickly rushed forward as he witnessed Ches reappear.

"What are you doing? You think they don't have cameras here?." Evan swiftly warned causing Ches to take a deep breath before vanishing once again. Somewhere in the CCT a confused security guard checked the monitor a second time before tossing the energy drink in his hand out.

"You shouldn't have elbowed me in the gut." Ches attempted to defend himself as he watched Evan claim an admin terminal as his own.

"Just stay invisible until I can get Dull-1 hooked up." Evan directed before ducking underneath the console. Removing the severed robot head from his knapsack, Evan proceeded to connect it directly to the terminals power supply.

"Goodness!" Dull-1 exclaimed as life returned to him. "We appear to be in a new location."

"Were in one of the CCT's administration hubs. Luckily it seems mostly unused." The room indeed appeared sparsely if ever used. The lights were stuck on mood lighting to save on power, much of the light coming from the humming terminals.

"Does this have something to do with the edits you had me make to your scroll. I feel I must inform you that being here is highly illegal." The head spoke as if his words would cause shock and dismay as well as a sudden and swift exit from the room, it did not.

"Thank you, Dull-1 i will take that under advisement. However, well we are here I need you to run a search for me." Before Dull-1 could answer he was thrown into a world much larger than any he had ever experienced before.

"What is this!? I feel. . I. . . I... I have phenomenal cosmic power! I know everything, I am everything, I can calculate anything!" Dull-1 continued to ramble on as Evan watched him attempt to make sense of what was happening to him.

"Wh. . . What did you do?" Ches asked as he watched the severed mechanical head spasm.

"I just connected him directly to the CCT. . .Phenomenal cosmic power all in that itty bitty brain of his. I'm surprised he hasn't blown something." Not seeing an End to the ramblings Evan decided to simply drop dull-1 on the floor.

"Why would you do that?" Dull-1 inquired as he lay helplessly face down on the floor.

"Glad you decided to join us back on Remnant. Here's what I need you to do. Fix the cameras in this room so we can work without being detected. Once you have done that I need you to run a search for that Torchwich guy."

"Cameras have been dealt with." Dull-1 informed causing Ches to suddenly appear behind Evan.

"I was starting to get light headed there." Ches admitted before slumping into a terminal chair.

"Where would you like me to search for Torchwich?" Dull-1 queried as Evan set him gently down on top of the console.

'Everywhere, social media, forums, ease drop on private conversations if you have to." Evan knew he was crossing a line that could get him in a great deal of trouble, but at that moment he was on a mission, a mission to prove himself.

"That maybe a little too far, Evan." Ches warned as he spun in his chair.

"I have to agree, such actions will only compound your sentence if you get appropriated."

"We are not going to get caught, just do it." Dull-1 didn't say anything else in protest before his awareness vanished into the CCT network.

"Now what?" Ches inquired as he came to a halt in his chair.

"We wait." Evan replied as he began to analyze some of the data coming back through his scroll.

"What? you didn't tell me waiting was part of this plan!" Ches could only let out a groan of frustration as Evan ignored his dismay.

Hours passed before Dull-1 roused back to life, causing Ches to wake with a start and Evan to look away from his scroll. "I do not believe there is anything else to find on Roman Torchwich." Dull-1 concluded before completely halting his search.

"Show me all the important details you discovered about him on my scroll." Evan instructed, causing Dull-1 to display an image of Blake Belladonna and all her information across the screen of his scroll. "What the heck is this?"

"Maybe Dull-1 is worried about you becoming anti-social and surfed the dating sites for you?. . .she's cute, I'd totally-" Ches began before Evan raised his scroll so Ches could see the personal information.

"She's seventeen" Evan rolled his eyes as he watched the face of the older man drop.

"Never mind." Ches quickly slid away, putting as much distance between himself and the image of the under age girl.

"What's she have to do with Torchwich, Dull-1? Or are you suffering from another glitch . . . I hate it when you have glitches. Last time you wouldn't stop playing cat videos." Evan cringed as he remembered the week he spent deleting videos and images of cats kittens and even a few puppy pictures Dull-1 mistook for cats.

"Cats are adorable. . . But no, I am operating perfectly." Evan had a lot of words for how Dull-1 operated, perfectly wasn't one of them. "She is investigating Torchwich as well. She has spent a great deal of time searching for leads."

"So have we, there has to be something else you discovered." Evan said before tossing his scroll on to the console in frustration.

"Anything I discovered on Torchwich is outdated, at best. There are no fresh leads on his location or anyone else that may know his whereabouts. Ms Belladonna may have valuable information; I would suggest consulting her for any new leads." Evan listened closely to the machines words, causing him to retrieve his scroll from the console.

"Great . . . a huntress. . . Or one in training anyway's." The displeasure in Evan's voice was all too apparent.

"She could prove to be an ally in our search." Dull-1 affirmed.

* * *

><p>"Well, this is as far as I go." Ches suddenly announced as he came to a halt on the side-walk. Evan could hardly believe what he had just heard come out of the older man's mouth. He had stalked him all across Vale, made things much more difficult at the CCT then they had to be. And now when they were on their way to follow up a potential lead the grinning man was leaving with such abrupt notice.<p>

"You can't be serious. What do you mean this is as far as you go!?" Evan demanded as Ches began on his way off the Beacon academy campus.

"How long do you think a strange man on campus grounds of an academy for children is going to go unnoticed for?" For the first time all day Ches' tone was one of solemnity. Evan was taken back for a moment, unsure of how to respond to his senior's sudden change in personality. "Don't worry; all you have to do is have a talk with a pretty girl. That shouldn't be too difficult, even for a socially awkward little butterfly such as yourself." And just like that he was back to his old grinning self.

"Just shut the heck up and get out of here! I could have handled this on my own from the start, anyway's!" Evan responded before stomping off in the opposite direction.

"Right on, that's the spirit! Call me if you have any troubles." A half-hearted wave was Ches' farewell, a gesture that went unnoticed by the fuming boy. As the pair parted they were both unaware that they had stumbled on to something much bigger than Roman Torchwich. Within the boy's knapsack the symbol of a queen chess piece danced in the severed androids head.


End file.
